Review: Cider House Rules by John Irving (audio)
complex look at what family is and how it is created
The Cider House Rules by John Irving, narrated by Grover Gardner, is a coming of age story set in rural St. Cloud, Maine, before WWII and after in which orphan Homer Wells feels the pressure of expectation and flees to an apple farm and cidery. At the orphanage in the early days, Homer runs away from several adoptive families to return to Dr. Wilbur Larch and the nurses, learning obstetrics and abortion procedures.
Irving’s novel is long and drawn out in places, but it deals with a lot of issues from women’s rights to an abortion to racism and addiction. Homer is more like Dr. Larch than he realizes in terms of his righteousness and confidence in his direction, despite the obstacles. He disapproves of participating in abortion procedures but does believe that women should have the choice. This stance drives an early wedge between him and Dr. Larch, leading him to leave and explore other opportunities with Wally and Candy, a couple who comes for an abortion.
While away, it is clear Dr. Larch’s addiction to ether is becoming a problem, and the nurses who revere him have little sway over his actions and are concerned not only about the doctor, but the fate of the orphanage when new board members start poking around and asking about their operations. Where is Homer, they wonder. It’s as if Homer is still their savior, even though he had made it clear when he left that he may never return and had no desire to follow in Dr. Larch’s footsteps as a doctor.
The push and pull of father-like figure and familial obligation are strong throughout the novel, except when Homer is mooning over Candy, his only friend’s girl. But of course, when Wally is away and MIA in Burma, what solace can Candy and Homer find?
But one of the biggest themes is making sure you live a life of purpose. Dr. Larch consistently said, “Your life should be of use.” It takes Homer a long while to learn what that means and return to his home and his purpose. The Cider House Rules by John Irving is a deep story about growing up and learning where one belongs, but for me, it plodded along in places and I wanted the pace to pick up.
RATING: Tercet
About the Author:
John Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times, winning in 1980 for The World According to Garp. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for In One Person. Internationally renowned, his books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. A Prayer for Owen Meany is his best-selling novel, in every language.
John Irving is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. He lives in Toronto.